The Turkish parliament's foreign affairs commission approved a bill ratifying Finland's bid to join NATO, state broadcaster TRT Haber reported on Thursday, effectively taking Helsinki another step toward membership of the trans-Atlantic pact, TurkicWorld reports citing Reuters.
Parliament's general assembly still needs to approve the bill and is expected to do so before it closes in mid-April, ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections on May 14.
President Tayyip Erdogan said last week during a visit by his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto to Turkey that parliament would ratify Helsinki's accession to NATO.
